Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians

Kumpf, Hans

Kumpf, Hans, clarinetist; b. Stuttgart, Germany, 8 June 1951. After receiving his special music diploma he graduated at Teacher's College Ludwigsburg in music, German philology and sociology (1970-74). He had lessons at youth music schools (clarinet, jazz). Now he works as a teacher.

He attended clinics for jazz and contemporary music in Remscheid, Darmstadt, Antwerp and other places, where he studied with Franzpeter Goebels, Johnny Griffin, Helmut Lachenmann, Erwin Lehn, Albert Mangelsdorff, Hans Deinzer and others. Kumpf belonged to the organizing committees of jazz festivals in Ludwigsburg and the German Music Festival Stuttgart 1974. He was adviser for some international festivals (Malta etc.), too.

As a clarinetist, he played at the German Jazz Festivals Frankfurt: 1972 with the group "AK Musick" and in 1976 with Theo Jorgensmann's "Clarinet Contrast". In 1975 he joined Wolfgang Dauner's "Radio Jazz Group Stuttgart" and did a recording session of clarinet duos with Perry Robinson. At the "Top People Poll 1979" by the readers of the magazine of the International Jazz Federation, Jazz Forum, Kumpf was elected No. 5 clarinetist in Europe.
In August 1979 a 90-minute live broadcast in New York radio WKCR and a concert in John Fischer's loft "Environ" (feat. P. Robinson, P. Kuhn, M. Moss, and M. Whitecage). Another NYC session in 1990 (feat. Fischer, Whitecage, Robinson, G. Hampel). In 1986 a radio production in Zurich with John Fischer and Mark Whitecage. From 1980-90, Kumpf regularly visited the (former) USSR. He reported by radio broadcasts and print media about the jazz scene in Eastern Europe. Kumpf's jam sessions in Leningrad/St. Petersburg, Moscow, Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius were released on records in the West. In November 1984 Hans Kumpf did a studio session with the Romanian pianist Harry Tavitian. In the eighties he often played in happenings with the artists' group "Hauptsach fertich", including an event in Venice/Italy. 1983/84 Kumpf was a singer/actor in the choir of the musical "Cabaret" at the State Theater Stuttgart. In 1990 he was soloist of the Youth Jazz Orchestra Baden- Wurttemberg in Bali.

Kumpf renewed the duo with Slovakian bass player Jan Jankeje for concerts (like in Leipzig, Halle) and in order to perform at art exhibitions. Together with his wife Katarzyna "Kasia" Kumpf as a speaker and author, he created the programs "Polish Poetry & Jazz" and "Polish Fairytales & Jazz". The Polish bass player Vitold Rek cooperates with the Kumpfs.

Kumpf held lectures about music and theory in Berlin, Koln, Darmstadt and other towns and at the meetings of the Institute for International Jazz Research: 1977 in Schielleiten, Austria, and in 1980 in Hamburg. Reports in writing and photographs for many magazines, newspapers and radio stations, for example SWF Radio Baden-Baden ("Pop-Shop"), SDR Radio Stuttgart ("Musikpodium International"), NDR Radio Hamburg ("Jazz
Laboratorium"), Neue Musikzeitung, Musik und Bildung, Jazzthetik, Der Spiegel, Sudkurier, Tip, Der Tagesspiegel, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Suddeutsche Zeitung.